The Philips Brilliance 4K Ultra HD Display (288P6LJEB) is a capable 28-inch monitor that offers a sharp UHD image and a generous array of I/O ports.

The Brilliance 4K Ultra HD Display (288P6LJEB) ($799.99) is Philips' first Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) monitor and one of several 28-inch, sub-$1,000 models to hit the market recently. Based on Twisted Nematic (TN) panel technology, the 288P6LJEB delivers a highly detailed, 3,840-by-2,160-resolution image and mostly accurate colors, and it comes with plenty of connectivity ports. That said, it's around $200 more expensive than our Editors' Choice for midrange UHD monitors, the Acer B286HK, and it has some trouble displaying certain shades of gray.

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Design and Features
The 288P6LJEB is attractive, yet understated. The non-reflective panel is framed by 0.6-inch bezels on the top and sides, while the bottom bezel measures 1.25 inches and has a slice of silver trim running along its upper edge. The 11.5-pound, matte black-cabinet is supported by a stand with a matching base. A black and silver mounting arm and a sliding hinge assembly gives you 5.9 inches of height and 25 degrees of tilt adjustability. It also allows you to pivot the screen 90 degrees for Portrait-mode viewing. The mounting arm has a 130-degree swivel range (65 degrees in each direction), and there are four VESA holes on the cabinet beneath the mounting plate. The down-firing, 3-watt speakers are loud and can be cranked up without distorting, but bass response is lacking.

The five touch-sensitive buttons on the lower bezel are used to turn the monitor on and off and navigate the settings menus. They also act as hot keys to select a Picture-in-Picture mode, chose an audio source, and toggle between the six SmartImage picture preset options (Office, Photo, Movie, Game, Economy, and Off). The Picture menu offers Brightness, Contrast, Black Level, Sharpness, and Gamma settings, as well as a SmartResponse option that speeds up the pixel response if motion blur is an issue. Color adjustment settings are limited to Color Temperature, sRGB, and a User-Defined setting that lets you adjust red, green, and blue intensity levels. Missing are advanced color settings, such as the 6-Point Saturation and Hue settings that you get with the Acer B286HK.

The 288P6LJEB is equipped with a variety of video ports, including DVI, VGA, HDMI with Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) charging capabilities, and DisplayPort inputs. All of these ports are located at the rear of the cabinet, along with the audio input and headphone jacks. The right side of the cabinet holds a USB 3.0 upstream port, two USB 3.0 ports (one of which has sleep-and-charge capability), and two USB 2.0 ports.

Philips covers the Brilliance 288P6LJEB with a three-year warranty on parts, labor, and backlighting. It ships with DVI, VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort cables and comes with a resource CD containing a user manual and the Philips SmartControl utility, which allows you to manipulate settings using your mouse and keyboard.

Performance
My 4K test photos and videos look striking on the 288P6LJEB. Image detail is sharp even when viewed close up, and colors appear bold and evenly saturated. The TN panel was able to display most of the shades from the DisplayMate 64-Step Gray-Scale test, but it struggled with the very lightest and darkest shades. The two lightest shades of gray appeared whitewashed, and the two darkest shades were black. This won't be an issue for most users, but if you require accurate gray-scale reproduction, you may want to consider an IPS monitor such as the NEC MultiSync EA244UHD.

Color accuracy is decent, but not ideal. As shown on the chromaticity chart below, red and blue colors, which are represented by the colored dots, are fairly close to their ideal CIE coordinates, which are represented by the boxes, but green is outside of its box. We saw this with the Asus PB287Q, the Lenovo ThinkVision Pro2840m, and the Acer B286HK, all of which also use TN panel technology. As is the case with TN monitors, the 288P6's skewed greens do not translate to green tinting or heavy green saturation.

The 288P6LJEB has a 5-millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel response, and the SmartResponse overdrive setting speeds that up to 1 millisecond (gray-to-gray), but I couldn't detect any difference between the two settings during my Aliens vs. Predator gaming tests. For some reason, I couldn't get an accurate input lag measurement with this panel (we use the Leo Bodnar Input Lag Tester). Measured lag was all over the place, jumping from 10 to 45 to 75 milliseconds, but gameplay is generally smooth, with only a trace of blurring and no significant controller lag.

Viewing-angle performance is mixed. The picture washes out when viewed from a top angle of around 45 degrees and becomes very dim when viewed from the same angle at the bottom. Side viewing angles are better, with only slight color shifting at around 50 degrees from center.

The 288P6LJEB used 57 watts of power during testing with SmartImage turned off. Switching over to the Economy setting lowered consumption to 43 watts, but the screen is a bit too dim at this setting. The Office preset offers the best all-around luminance level and uses 52 watts. Both the Acer B286HK and the Asus PB287Q are more energy-efficient; the Acer monitor consumed 43 watts of power in Standard mode and 28 watts in Eco mode, and the Asus display used 40 watts in Standard mode and 28 watts in Eco mode.

Conclusion
If you're considering taking the UHD plunge, the 288P6LJEB is worth a look. It does a great job of displaying 4K content and has a plethora of video inputs, a four-port USB hub, and a fully adjustable ergonomic stand. However, its gray-scale performance could be better, and as is the case with the Asus PB287Q and Lenovo ThinkVision Pro2840m, its green color accuracy is slightly off. The Acer B286HK also has trouble with green color accuracy, but its gray-scale performance is better than the 288P6LJEB and it costs $200 less, which is why it remains our Editors' Choice for midrange UHD monitors.

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About the Author

As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of t... See Full Bio

Philips Brilliance 4K Ultra HD Display (288P6LJEB)

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